I did it! I've passed the first exam and I'd utterly convinced myself that it was a big fat fail. I was unbelievably nervous on the day and as a result of that came away thinking I'd messed up the riding sections and then preceded to convince myself that I'd fudged the stable management too.
I had an agonising waiting of 5 depressing days where I started to make mental plans to re-sit the exam next year, rehearsed the reasons why I'd failed in my head for my instructor and genrally felt crap about the huge waste of money. I'd taken a gamble this year by going part-time at work in order to work on my equestrian passion and to fall at the first jump would have been a little bit more than rubbish.
Reasons why I was convinced I'd failed:
1. The horse I had for stable management was lying down when I approached the stable and I was convinced the method I used to get him standing had broken a health and safety rule.
2. My tail bandage didn't cover his top hairs at the top of his tail which were very very short and pulled.
3. I couldn't get his bit in his mouth. The examiner had to help me but he was incredibly clever with avoiding it and she couldn't do it on her own either!
Then in the riding:
4. I banged the letters round the outside twice and made the horses jump and the caller told me off quite severely.
5. I kept misunderstanding the caller and he kept getting frustrated with us.
6. My second horse was quite head strong in the light seat canter and spooked another horse.
Finally in the theory and part practical:
7. I didn't tie up the horse tight enough when asked to do so.
8. I identified the feed as pony nuts then had to correct myself to sugar beet nuts.
So with all that going round in my head I had come to the conclusion that I had probably failed at least the riding and that any pass would be a massive surprise.
What a relief1 I feel so much better and will really enjoy my group lesson this afternoon!
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